Cap or nipple for mucilage-bottles



,(No Model.)

J. N. CLARK. GAP 0R NIPPLE FOR MUGILAGB BOTTLES,

Patentd Sept. 15(1896.

wmmlio o UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN N. CLARK, OF LAKE WORTH, FLORIDA.

CAP OR NIPPLE FOR MUClLAGE-BOTTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 567,704, dated September 15, 1896. Application filed May 27, 1896. Serial No. 593,329. (No model.)

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN N. CLARK, a citi zen of the United States, residing at Lake Worth, in the county of Dade and State of Florida, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Caps or Nipples for Mucilage-Bottles; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in caps or nipples for mucilage-bottles of that class or description which are made of rubber or other similar material, adapted to be slipped over the mouth of the bottle and formed at its outer end with a slit or opening for the egress of the mucilage. As is well known, these caps or nipples in time become gummed or clogged up, so as to render them.

practically useless.

The object of the present invention is to provide such caps or nipples with means whereby the sides of the slit or opening may be distended or spread apart to allow the mucilage to freely escape, and which will automatically contract or close when not in use, thereby closing the bottle.

To this end the novelty consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of the same as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mucilage-bottle provided with my improved cap or nipple; and Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the same.

In the said drawings, the reference-numeral 1 designates the bottle, which may be of any ordinary or suitable construction, and 2 the cap or nipple thereof, adapted to be slipped over the mouth of the bottle and held to the neck thereof by frictional contact. This cap or nipple is approximately conical in shape, with its outer end flattened and formed with a diagonal slit or opening 8 for the escape of the mucilage, which is closed by the resiliency of the material composing the nipple.

The numeral 4 is a similar diagonal slit, located in the same diagonal plane or line with the first-mentioned slit 3, and through these slits extends a thin flat metal plate 5, its forward end 6 projecting a short distance beyond the slit 3, while its opposite end eX- tends diagonally downward through the slit 4 to form a handle 7. It will be seen that the lower slit 4 is approximately even with the flange 8 of the mouth of the bottle, and said flange forms a fulcrum for the plate 5 to rest upon when its handle 7 is pressed inwardly by the thumb or forefinger. The plate actsas a lever with the flange as its fulcrum-point, and its forward end 6 distends the slit 4 to allow the mucilage to escape through the slit 3, the outside of the end 9 acting as a dauber to spread the mucilage when the bottle is inverted.

As is usually the case when the bottle has not been in use for some time, a thin coating or skin of mucilage forms on the inside of the slit 3, which hermetically seals the same and prevents the evaporation of the moisture and consequent drying up of the contents of the bottle; but when it is desired to use it the bottle is inverted and a slight pressure on the handle 7 breaks the seal and allows the contents to flow out at the slit 3, from which they may be conveniently applied or spread by the dauber end 9.

' This cap or nipple may be made of any flexible or resilient material, and although I have specifically described the construction. and relative arrangement of the several elements of my invention, I do not desire to be confined to the same, as such changes or modiflcations may be made as clearly fall within the scope of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful, and desire 0 to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The cap 2 provided with the diagonal slits 3 and 4, and the plate 5, its ends projecting beyond said slits, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The bottle 1 provided with the flexible cap 2, having a diagonal slit 3 in its closed end and a diagonal slit 4, a plate 5 located in said slits in their diagonal plane, and having zoo its ends pro jeoting outside or beyond the said agonally through and beyond the slits 3 and slits, substantially as and for the purpose set 4:, substantially as shown and described. 10 forth. I11 testimony whereof I hereunto affix my 3. The bottle 1, the mouth of which is signature in presence of two Witnesses. formed with a flange S, and provided with a JOHN N. CLARK cap 2 formed with a slit 3 in its closed end 9, Vitnesses: and a slit 4 contiguous to said flange 8, in DAVID THOMAS, combination with the plate 5 extending di- CHAS. A. LANE. 

